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Saving money for college

As a parent, you may feel it is your job to help your children pay for college. Even though students can often take out loans or receive financial aid, the more money they have when they start, the better off they will be in the long run. If you feel it is important to contribute to your child's college education, it is important to start saving early, even as soon as your child is born.

A 529 plan provides one of the best options for college savings. These plans don't count against your student when calculating financial aid, allowing your child to maximize the aid for which he qualifies. These plans work in a similar way to a retirement plan. The money is invested; the closer to college your child gets, the more conservative the plan becomes to avoid losing too much money.

When you decide to open a 529 plan for your child, research all of your options. You can open an account in any state, which allows you to choose the one that offers you the greatest advantage, such as tax deductions for contributions. After the account is open, it is best to assign monthly automatic withdrawals from your savings or checking account. These monthly withdrawals add up over time.

Regardless of how old your child is, it is never to late to start a 529 plan.

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Related Questions

Start Saving in High School?

As soon as you have your first job, you should start saving money up for college. If you can save a few thousand dollars during high school for college, then you will be on the road to success. Saving money in high school will always help eliminate stress for students who use that money for college.


How will having a college saving plan help save time and money?

Having a college saving plan will help save time and money by investing little amounts of money a time and gaining interest over long periods of time. This way the funds are available right away when you need them by the time your child is ready for college.


An Easy Way To Save For College?

Saving for college is not one of the things teenagers think about, but it needs to be one of the most important ones. Parents can start saving for college when their children are young by putting money in a savings or trust account at the bank. The money will not be able to be accessed until the child is 18 or 21. The money in the account will gain interest over the years and anyone can put money into the account for the child.


How should I handle my finances to save money for kids' college?

You should start a saving account for your kids college funds and only make it to where you can take money out if needed and that way no one can get into it except you and your kids when they start college.


What are some sites that offer a college saving calculator?

MSNmoney is a good site to find a college saving calculator to help you with a long term plan on saving money for your children's education fund. Another good location is CNNmoney. You may also want to try your local bank website which can direct you to a planning solution for college savings.


What are you saving money for if you are saving to buy a car?

If you are saving money to buy a car, you are saving to purchase a vehicle for transportation.


How much money is enough when saving for college?

How much money to save for college will depend entirely on the individuals involved so a defined amount can not be set. It is likely to cost at least $20,000 for three children though.


Who can benefit from attending a junior college?

Everyone can benefit from attending a junior college. The student can benefit by saving money and cutting back on needed student loan. Also, the person who is paying for the college benfits from a junior college.


What are college funding?

A college saving fund is a fund in which your parents, or grandparents, can start up for you at an early age. They put it in a bank or a entrust a company that is specifically for college saving funds and over time, the amount of money they put in grows. By the time you go to college, you will have enough money to provide you with financial stability. A type of plan is a 529 plan and information can be found here: http://www.savingforcollege.com/intro_to_529s/what-is-a-529-plan.php


what are college savings funds?

A college saving fund is a fund in which your parents, or grandparents, can start up for you at an early age. They put it in a bank or a entrust a company that is specifically for college saving funds and over time, the amount of money they put in grows. By the time you go to college, you will have enough money to provide you with financial stability. A type of plan is a 529 plan and information can be found here: http://www.savingforcollege.com/intro_to_529s/what-is-a-529-plan.php


What is the New York 529 savings plan?

New York 529 saving plan it is a plan for saving money for the college. You can chose more investments options and after you can start savings with only 25 $.


The Importance of Saving for Education?

Leading up to going to college, there are few things as important as keeping your grades up to snuff with the requirements of the colleges you're looking at. Saving for education is one of these things, since without the money to go to college you won't ever have a chance to put those grades to work for you. This is the importance of saving for education. After all, you can be the greatest student in the world and still possibly not get a full ride to your choice college. If you don't spend time saving for education, you may never get to go to college at all.